The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Russian: Необычайные приключения мистера Веста в стране Большевиков, romanized: Neobychainye priklyucheniya mistera Vesta v strane bolshevikov) is a 1924 Soviet silent comedy film directed by Lev Kuleshov.
A Soviet gang leader exploits West's fears by staging a fake arrest and trial, then offers to "rescue" him in exchange for money.
When West and Jeddy arrive in Moscow, a thief steals one of their suitcases and brings it to a gang leader named Zhban.
When the police try to arrest him, Jeddy escapes by fleeing along rooftops, then unexpectedly reunites with Ellie, a woman he once saved from being mugged in the United States.
Zhban hires another group of criminals to dress as exaggerated Russian stereotypes, kidnap West and the Countess, stage a show trial, and sentence them to death.
Impressed, West sends home a telegram asking his wife to burn the magazines and hang up a picture of Vladimir Lenin.
Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian government, executed the Tsar and his family, fought a civil war, and established the communist Soviet Union.
[2] Western countries largely condemned the revolution's violence; the United States would not diplomatically recognize the Soviet Union until 1933.
[7] Kuleshov believed editing distinguished film from theater, and considered montage as fundamental to cinema as harmony is to music.
[9] He found Hollywood action and slapstick more engaging than the work of Russian directors like Aleksandr Khanzhonkov, and felt cinema should be efficient and industrial to help its audience embrace modernity.
[5][16] In one scene, Boris Barnet fell while traversing a tightrope, claiming that Kuleshov left him hanging for a half hour while criticizing his insufficient training.
[4] Kuleshov considered the film a "verification" of his approach to montage and production, and Rimgaila Salys describes it as a "compendium" of his cinematic ideas.
The film includes chases and stunts inspired by popular American cinema, rapid editing, slow motion, flashbacks, and re-contextualized documentary footage.
[14] Kuleshov arranged objects, characters, and motion along grid lines and 45 degree angles, which he felt made the action easiest for audiences to understand.
He argues that Soviet audiences would have recognized the implication that the gang does represent the Bolsheviks after all, and he interprets West's final telegram as mocking unrealistic communist rhetoric.
He notes that the film depicts Russia as a nation of poor criminals, and that the ending merely celebrates pre-revolutionary architecture, not anything created by the Bolsheviks themselves.
[22] Conversely, Marina Levitina does interpret the film's final shot of a Russian radio tower as a boast of new technological achievements.
[17] Greta Matzner-Gore observes that the film is built around nested and metatextual imitations, highlighting cinema's potential to mislead.
[27][28][29] Peter Christensen notes that the film has endured better than other Soviet comedies of the time,[30] and David Gillespie considers it a "masterpiece of technique".